Second Catholic priest appointed to serve as House chaplain

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Friday announced that the Rev. Patrick J. Conroy will be the 60th chaplain of the House, the second Catholic priest to serve in that post.

Conroy succeeds the Rev. Daniel P. Coughlin, who was tapped by then-Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to become the first Catholic to hold the job. Coughlin resigned last month after 11 years of service.

A Jesuit who previously served as chaplain of Georgetown University for a decade, Conroy currently teaches theology at Jesuit High School in Portland, Ore. He is a native of Washington State and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1983, according to Boehner's office.